Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Wednesday, 7 December 2005.

Schools: League Tables

Question: My Lords, the Minister will be aware that in addition to the league tables based on SATs, other tables are also being prepared based on value added. First, can he say how these are computed and how reliable they are? Secondly, is he not concerned that only one teacher in 10 says that league tables have a positive impact on their teaching?

Answer: My Lords, I am not sure where the noble Baroness got the figure of one in 10. I expect it is from a survey where that kind of result can be procured. We need to be clear that league tables are not for teachers; any good teacher will know what the performance of his pupils is. The purpose of performance tables is to benefit parents, who have a right to see the performance of their schools in key test and examination results. There is no issue on that. In respect of value added, it measures value added between key stages. In the case of primary schools, it is between key stage 1 tests at the age of seven and key stage 2 tests at the age of 11, and in respect of secondary schools, between key stage 2 tests and GCSE.

Secondary information